Education

Jonathan L. Schuchardt, Ph.D.

Partner

Jonathan L. Schuchardt is a client-focused intellectual property professional, fluent in organic chemistry, catalysis, and polymer chemistry, with twenty-two years of experience in IP law. An expert in devising patent strategies, growing patent portfolios, and improving IP processes, Jon is a skillful draftsman, communicator, teacher, and advocate. He provides concise, informed, and timely counseling to business leaders, R&D managers, and research scientists. Since joining Dilworth IP in January 2011, Jon has drafted and prosecuted patent applications, prepared freedom-to-practice opinions, and counseled the firm’s clients on a variety of intellectual property issues. Prior to joining Dilworth IP, Jon was Senior Counsel at LyondellBasell Industries in Newtown Square, PA, where he supported various business areas with patent application drafting, prosecution, counseling, agreement work, transaction support, and client education. Before transitioning to patent practice, Jon worked for Lyondell’s predecessor ARCO Chemical Company as a research scientist, primarily in the area of polymer synthesis.

Accomplishments

Prepared, filed, and prosecuted a career total of more than 270 patent applications, including more than 45 new patent applications within the past four years and 17 during 2011

Devised and implemented a patenting strategy designed to protect a client’s multi-million dollar research effort related to specialty chemicals

Performed timely freedom-to-operate studies to enable a client’s business leaders to develop and commercialize products with confidence

Built an attractive portfolio of 20 patents within 5 years related to flavors & fragrances that added substantial value to a business purchased for $150 million

Created a “road show” of twenty IP topics on aspects of patent law that helped scientists and engineers better understand patentability, how to read a patent, the limits of agreements, the importance of experimental results, and how to communicate with care

Demonstrated the persuasive value in the USPTO of computational evidence of patentability for new catalyst compositions; the resulting 15 patents allowed R&D to conserve resources otherwise needed to synthesize and test the catalysts

Eased a new group’s concerns about the “minefield” of patents related to metallocenes with frequent counseling, educational seminars, and timely freedom-to-operate opinions. With renewed confidence, scientists invented more and wasted less time analyzing legal issues

Sparked a creative scientist on his way to becoming the company’s most prolific inventor by championing efforts to patent process technology for making new copolymers useful in coatings and created a portfolio of 30 patents to protect the new polymers

Inventor on 15 issued U.S. patents

Consistently obtained the best possible patent protection for inventions by relying on plain English instead of chemical formulae in independent claims

As in-house counsel, helped craft and negotiate an average of 60 secrecy agreements per year

Wrote the key catalyst patents in a portfolio of more than 100 patents for a business that was later purchased for $2.5 billion; purchaser licensed the technology to all of its major competitors